The Palace of Holyrood House & Holyrood Abbey

Legend
tells how Kind David I was hunting in the woodland that once covered this whole area, when
he was attacked by a stag. A silver cloud appeared in the sky, from which descended
a holy cross. At the sight of this the stag fled, and in acknowledgement of this
miracle, King David founded the Monastery of the Holy Rood. The year was 1128, and
it is from this time that Edinburgh's tumultuous religious history grew. It was not
long before the humble monastery had grown into an abbey, and the lives of an illustrious
trail of Scottish monarchs became entwined with this place. James II, III and IV
were all married in the Abbey, James V and Charles I were both crowned
here, and James III's grave is amongst those numbered here.
It was one of the abbeys pillaged by the Earl of Hertford on his march
through Scotland in 1544, and in 1688 it was plundered by a mob celebrating the accession
of William of Orange. On that occasion the vaults were opened and the Royal coffins
broken into. Among the objects removed was the head of Darnley. Subsequent
restoration work culminated in the new roof in 1758. Ten years later this gave way,
and was never repaired, and eventually the Abbey crumbled into the evocative ruins we see
today.

The processional
stretch of the "Royal Mile" leads eventually to the gates of the magnificent
Palace of Holyroodhouse. It was built under the orders of James IV in 1498, who
enlarged an existing guesthouse of the nearby abbey. Little of the original building is
left today. Fifty years after its construction, the palace suffered serious damage
by the Earl of Hertford's troops and a century later Cromwell's army left their own mark
on it. By the time the monarchy was restored, there was little left of the grand
palace that Holyrood had once been. The drawing above shows the palace as it was in
1647.

In the 1670s, Charles II ordered the palace to be restored, and Sir
William Bruce redesigned and reconstructed large parts of the building. In the
event, Charles II never even visited Holyrood to appreciate the marvellous craftsmanship,
but we have him to thank for the continued existence of this royal home.

The most famous wedding of all to take place here was
that of the twenty-two year old Mary, Queen of Scots, to the nineteen year
old Darnley on 29th July 1565. Darnley placed three rings on Mary's finger and
knelt beside her while the catholic priest said prayers for their union. Darnley,
whose vacillating religious beliefs were notorious, was Protestant at the time
and left Mary in the private chapel of Holyrood to hear Mass. Mary was dressed
in black mourning to represent the widow's life she was leaving behind. After
the ceremony she was divested of her mourning clothes and robed in a brightly
coloured, jewel-encrusted outfit. A trumpet fanfare accompanied the couple's
procession to the Great Hall where a sumptuous feast awaited them. Crowds
cheered outside throwing gold coins, while Mary and Darnley were being
entertained with a masque and a dance. Atholl, Morton, Crawford, Eglinton,
Cassilis and Glencairn were present at the banquet to attend the couple. These
festivities continued for the following two days, but he euphoria was of short
duration, as Mary soon realised that she had married a complete waster.

The above two
pictures show Mary's Bedroom and Audience Chamber respectively. The picture on the
left reveals the small inner chamber where Mary liked to convene with her friends and
Secretary David Rizzio. It was there that the tragic murder of the latter was
committed. Rizzio's body was dragged through the Audience Chamber and stabbed
several times.

On 15th May 1547, thirteen weeks
after Darnley's death, Mary and Bothwell were married in the Council Hall of
Holyrood in a Protestant ceremony. Adam, Bishop of Orkney and friend of Bothwell,
preached a sermon to the effect that Bothwell had repented of his former life of
evil and wickedness, while Huntly and Maitland were among the witnesses. This
short ceremony was followed by a dour wedding breakfast eaten in silence. In
stark contrast to her previous two weddings, there were no rejoicings or
expensive trousseau. Mary contented herself with an old yellow gown relined with
white taffeta, an old black dress decorated with gold braid, and a black taffeta
petticoat refurbished. To Bothwell she only gave a second-hand genet fur,
recycled from her mother's cloak. Later, she broke down in tears before
Bishop Leslie, repenting of her Protestant wedding. Two days after the wedding,
Mary and Bothwell were heard screaming at each other, Mary calling for a knife
that she might kill herself. The next day, she threatened to drown herself. The
marriage, which ended a month later at Carberry Hill, was an unhappy one. On
public occasions, Bothwell displayed an exaggerated deference for Mary, but
otherwise, he was rude, jealous and violent, and delighted in humiliating her in
public. It also leaked that he was maintaining his ex-wife, Lady Jean Gordon,
whom he had divorced in order to marry Mary, in Crichton Castle. To appease him,
Mary gave up all her little pleasures such as card-playing, hunting, golf,
hawking and music.